‘Lord of the Rings’ fans slam Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’ for ‘trying to be woke’

Fans of The Lord of the Rings are less than pleased by the trailer of Amazon’s billion-dollar spin-off Rings of Power, which they slammed for veering from JRR Tolkien’s original works and trying to be ‘woke’, reported The Daily Mail.

After the trailer for the highly-anticipated Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power dropped on Super Bowl Sunday, fans took to social media to voice their disapproval of the show’s inclusion of a more ‘diverse’ cast, which they say is not in line with the source material.

The criticism is based on the fact that the Amazon series borrows from the appendices that accompanied Tolkien’s original works to help in creating the world of Middle Earth, and many of his influences can be traced to Norse, Celtic, and Anglo-Saxon folklore, groups typically known to be white.

Aggrieved fans took to Twitter and Instagram to voice out their disapproval, with one commenting, “Go woke go broke. How about you just respect the source material.”

Another fan said, “So sad you just used Tolkien's ideas to write a completely different book, and one that is only there to pay homage to confused woke ideas instead of the great depth of thought founded in his books.”

On the other hand, many fans also rejected the criticism, with one fan pointing out, “Imagine being upset about a black elf in a series where the trees talk and wizards ride on eagles.”

Another said, “Silly comments. Whether it is good will depend entirely on the writing and plot, not the gender or race of the actors or the fact the visuals might deviate from your preferences.”

The original LOTR franchise films, directed by Peter Jackson, featured just a handful of non-white actors.